The University of Florida College of Dentistry Dean A. Isabel Garcia announced three administrative changes in UF Department of Restorative Dental Sciences, or RDS.
“Restorative Dental Sciences is one of our college’s largest and most integral departments—its work touches every facet of our mission, from academics and clinical care to research and innovation so I am very pleased that these faculty members have agreed to permanent leadership roles and am confident in the continued strength of the department,” said A. Isabel Garcia, dean.
Ana Dias Ribeiro, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D., who was serving as interim chair of RDS has been appointed permanently in the leadership role.
Dias Ribeiro, a clinical associate professor, earned her dental degree from the University of Brasilia, Brazil, in 2006 and her master’s degree, a certificate and a doctorate in oral rehabilitation from the Araraquara Dental School at Sao Paulo State University-UNESP in 2009 and 2012, respectively. Dias Ribeiro became a tenured professor in the University of Brasilia’s Department of Dentistry in 2012 before joining UF in 2016 as a clinical assistant professor. She was promoted to clinical associate professor in July 2021.
Stephanni Terza, D.M.D., a clinical assistant professor, was serving as the interim director for RDS’s Division of Operative Dentistry and has been named to that role permanently.
Terza earned her bachelor’s degree from UF and then graduated from UFCD with her dental degree in 2013. She joined the college as faculty in 2020 after serving as adjunct faculty.
Josephine Esquivel-Upshaw, D.M.D., M.S., a professor, was appointed the permanent director for RDS’s Division of Prosthodontics.
She earned her dental degree in 1991 from the University of the Philippines and went on to complete a prosthodontics residency at Northwestern University in Illinois. In 2009, she came to UF and completed a master’s in clinical investigation at the College of Medicine. She joined UFCD as a clinical fellow in 1994 and served on faculty from 1995 to 2000. She then spent five years at the University of Texas in San Antonio before rejoining UFCD in 2006.